Africa-Press – Angola. The head of the department of Agriculture and Plant Production of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ribeiro João Antonio, said on Monday that the proliferation of fruit fly in several Angolan fields has caused significant financial losses for farmers and restricted fruit exports.
He pointed to Benguela, Huambo and Bengo as the provinces most affected by this pest and said that it must be combated.
“In addition to endangering and damaging the country’s fruit production levels, the fruit fly limits the volume of fruit that can be exported,” he said.
The official said that this type of fly is scientifically known as “Drosophila melanogaster” and is very common in the cultivation of various fruit species.
He said that at least 20 technicians will undergo training to enhance the technical capabilities of key stakeholders in the horticultural value chain to mitigate the impact of the fruit fly, which significantly affects fruit production in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
Luiz Bota, the fruit fly specialist from the FAO Sub-Regional Secretariat, said that the species in question is the oriental fruit fly. It began to spread across the continent from Kenya in 2003 and is currently present in about 30 countries.
The expert said that the objective is to reduce the population of this pest as much as possible to enable export negotiations with importing countries within the framework of low-risk production.
